Insulating translucent panel assemblies, such as windows and door lites, typically consist of at least two parallel panels of glass or plastic spaced apart by a spacer sealed around the periphery of the panels of glass or plastic. A sealed space of air or insert gas is formed within the insulating translucent panel assembly and helps maintain the temperature difference between the interior side of the barrier and the exterior side of the barrier. Developments in the field of insulating translucent barriers for the past twenty years have included the spacers used to hold the parallel panels of glass or plastic in spaced apart relation.
Early spacers were formed from hollow metal bars filled with a desiccant material that would keep the sealed space within the insulating translucent barrier dry. The high thermal conductivity between panels of glass or plastic led to misting or fogging problems in extreme weather conditions, and this led to improved spacers. Some spacers combined a desiccant foam material with a moisture barrier to remove substantially all thermal conduction between the panels of glass or plastic. One problem was that these spacers required secondary sealant to be applied to the periphery of the spacer for the insulating translucent barrier to be effectively sealed. Spacers formed of simple desiccant-filled butyl material that could be pressed or heated to the necessary spacer shape were developed to simplify the manufacturing process, but these spacers have only one level of seal between the sealed space and the outside atmosphere. It would therefore be desirable to improve on conventional insulating translucent panel assemblies and their methods of manufacture.